


in the space between us

by lilithiumwords



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Space Opera, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Murder, Falling In Love, Inspired by Poetry, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Romance, Royalty, Science Fiction, Soulmates, Star-crossed, Technology, Unconventional Format, YOI Stargazer Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-24 01:25:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13800450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilithiumwords/pseuds/lilithiumwords
Summary: Yuuri has lived among the stars all his life, but he never noticed them until he saw Viktor.





	1. nebulae / noticing

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Français available: [in the space between us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15661773) by [PompomSamael](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PompomSamael/pseuds/PompomSamael)



> For [YOI Stargazer Week](https://yoistargazers.tumblr.com/), a prompt week dedicated to space.
> 
> Banner made with [Canva](https://www.canva.com/).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 1: _nebulae - vague, conceptual, dreamlike. full of potential and what might be, swirling with the hopes and dreams of stars yet to be born._

The first time Yuuri notices the stars, he is ten years old. He has lived on a spaceship his whole life and has never known sunlight or gentle breezes, but he couldn't tell you that; technology mastered simulations of weather long ago. He has never stood in a field, or under a tree in a forest, or on a cliff on a mountain. Yuuri can recite science terms as well as any other child, but he doesn't understand them intrinsically. He doesn't know day or night. He only knows the stars.

They've been with him since the beginning. He knows starlight like his mother's voice; he sleeps next to nebulae and comets and the deep dark unknown. He can see further than any child standing on a cliff, looking across the world -- because he can look across the universe.

The stars are as much a part of his life as his parents or his sister. They blend with the walls of his room; they are pretty to look at sometimes, but Yuuri is more interested in other things, childish things. He sees them, but he doesn't notice them. His world isn't that large yet.

Yet one day, Yuuri does notice them, because that's when he first sees Viktor.

At every spaceport they visit, Yuuri's mother Hiroko spends about two hours downloading data and running updates on their systems. Yuuri always joins her for this task while Mari accompanies their father to the markets. After the data download is complete, Hiroko will sit with Yuuri in the living room to look at the newest videos, where they can see what the rest of the universe is up to. The universe feels hesitant and new, after the war ended before Yuuri was born, and humans are still finding their feet in the stars.

The first video seems to be the most important, with "BREAKING NEWS" captioned underneath it. Hiroko hums as she plays it, and Yuuri watches with boredom, as several old people talk a lot under a starry sky about things that don't matter to him at all. Something about the royal family and a birthday, but it means little for a boy who cares more about games and music.

Then the old people step aside, and a boy steps forward.

Yuuri goes stiff with interest, every nerve in his body standing up with attention. He leans toward the screen, his glasses slipping a little on his nose.

"That's the prince," his mother murmurs, and a shiver runs through Yuuri. He knows about the royal family; everyone does, since they won the war and defeated the people who destroyed Yuuri's planet. He has never seen any of them, though, since they rarely venture out in public. Yet here is a boy who is older than him, whose otherworldly beauty outshines everything Yuuri has ever known. Something about him calls to Yuuri, and he can barely understand it, even as he watches the boy on the screen.

The boy smiles and waves at the camera, bright blue eyes twinkling with glee, his long hair the opposite color of the sky outside Yuuri's window. He is someone very important, someone who should be out of Yuuri's league, but Yuuri doesn't even care -- he can only see that Viktor is someone amazing, and Yuuri wants to know him.

"He's fourteen now," his mother comments thoughtfully. "They've brought back some of the old ways. At fourteen, you could choose to leave your home for an apprenticeship, though it wouldn't really apply to you, sweetheart. It's really only for those who live on a planet..." Yuuri hardly hears her, squirming a bit as he watches Viktor smile, something mysterious in the way he looks across the crowd watching him. He seems to know something that nobody else does, and Yuuri aches to know as well.

"Prince Viktor, where have you decided to go for your apprenticeship?"

Viktor's smile, innocent and beaming, widens, and he points behind him at the dark sky above. "I'm going there."

The reporter is baffled. "To...?"

"There," Viktor repeats, eyes glittering now. "I'm going to the stars."

 _I'm in the stars,_ Yuuri thinks, barely holding his breath. _Viktor can come to me._

Yuuri hardly hears the rest of the video, because they bundle Viktor off while several more old people begin talking about things that don't matter. Yuuri listens a little for Viktor's name, but soon they stop talking about him altogether. His mother watches other videos, but Yuuri pays no attention, his mind brimming with that small bit of knowledge in Viktor's smile.

In just a few moments, Viktor has become Yuuri's entire world.

His world is small, for all that he is surrounded by the deep unknown, limited to his mother, father, and sister. The few glimpses of the rest of the universe Yuuri sees in videos and books mean little to him -- he is a child, and his family's ship doesn't need to be any bigger.

But now Yuuri wants to see more. He wants to know more. He wants to go to the same stars Viktor does. He wants to see Viktor, to know the boy who smiles so mysteriously and has eyes that twinkle like the stars outside his window. He wants that knowledge that Viktor seems to know which no one else seems to understand.

Yuuri wants to understand him.

"Mom," Yuuri whispers, eyes bright with wonder, "I want to go to the stars."


	2. stars / searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 2: _stars - burning bright, beautiful, and bold. they are young, they are carefree, they burn and light up the night and bring warmth and life._

Yuuri rises without his alarm for once. He dresses quickly and efficiently and hurries out of his room to the living room, hidden away beneath the main deck. His mother always insisted that they have a room for family business, separate from ship business, and his father agreed. Yuuri finds it useful, in that at seven o'clock every morning, his family will sit down together for tea before everybody rushes off to their duties.

Perhaps his parents already sense the tension when Yuuri walks in, glancing at him with small smiles. Mari has her nose in a book, but she puts it away as soon as Yuuri sits down, grumbling a little and reaching for the interface to order tea.

Four cups appear in front of them. Everybody but Yuuri sighs and drinks. Yuuri doesn't touch it, his gaze fixed on his parents.

"Yesterday was my birthday."

Mari's gaze flickers to him, before she focuses on her cup again. She won't fight against it. She has known how he has felt for years. His parents have taken a little more convincing.

"We had a nice birthday dinner for you, didn't we, Yuuri?" Hiroko says with a smile, setting down her cup. "Didn't you like the cake?"

"It was good, mom," Yuuri says blandly, undeterred. "I'm fourteen and a day now."

"So you are," Toshiya says serenely.

Wordlessly, Yuuri pulls out his tablet and sets it in front of his parents. At the top of the screen reads "Application for Apprenticeship on Celestial Voyage."

Toshiya says nothing, taking in the screen with a faint frown. Everything has been filled in; Yuuri has had the file saved for months. He has already signed it. All he needs is the signature of one of his parents.

"Yuuri," Hiroko says faintly, but Yuuri does not wait for her objections.

"I've been waiting. I know you don't like the old ways, but I want to follow them. I want to go do this. You've known for years that I've wanted to do this. I have everything planned out, I have contacts, I have the funds ready, I even know where I want to go. They've all but said yes. I just need you to let me go. Please," Yuuri says, his voice breaking a bit on the last word as he bows.

Silence follows Yuuri's impassioned speech. Mari is watching their parents now, while Yuuri keeps his head bowed, putting all of his hope and desire into his stiff shoulders, silently imploring his parents to understand. They don't care for the old ways that have taken off in the past few years, particularly after Viktor announced his apprenticeship on intergalactic television for all to see.

_Viktor, I'm going to follow you._

"Yuuri," Hiroko says again, her gaze moving between him and the paper worriedly, "it says here... it says you want to be an Interfacer."

Yuuri doesn't look away from her, as his father blinks in surprise and Mari sits up straight. "That's right."

"But that's so dangerous! The level of control needed is very strict for those ships, and you're just fourteen --"

"I can do it," Yuuri interrupts, refusing to wince when his father frowns at him. "I've studied it for years. I can do it. I've been doing the simulations and every one of them has come out with perfect readings."

"We never downloaded one of those programs," Toshiya says quietly. Mari keeps her face straight, as does Yuuri; his parents don't need to know how they got the program two years ago, bought from a cryptomarket at the Bei Spaceport. Yuuri's bank account is still smarting from that particular purchase, but every cent was worth it.

"I got it from a friend. Please," Yuuri says again, softer now. His attention is on his mother, who still looks shocked. "Please... this is what I want to do."

For a long moment, nobody speaks. Hiroko bows her head over the tablet, scrolling through the application, her eyes moving back and forth as she reads quickly. Toshiya leans in to read as well, and Mari sits nervously, her fingers tapping against her teacup. Yuuri can only wait.

Then Hiroko holds up her hand, where a holographic stylus appears. Yuuri holds his breath, his eyes widening as Hiroko silently signs the bottom of the application, the stylus dissippating into nothing as she sets the tablet down again.

"Hiroko," Toshiya says quietly, but Hiroko only shakes her head, reviewing her signature for a moment, then handing the datapad back to Yuuri. 

"You would be unhappy if we kept you," his mother says, and the pain in her eyes echoes in Yuuri's heart. His resolve never wavers, though.

_Viktor, I'm coming._

~*~

On the other side of the galaxy, a young man stands in the center of a great room on a metal dais, wearing a skintight suit that gleams with data streams, tiny violet lights of information running across his body. He wears a helmet of metal with dark glass covering most of his face, leaving his mouth untouched. The lights feed into cables that plug into his suit, sending information deep into the ship that houses the central room.

After a series of high-pitched beeps, the cables disconnect, releasing small hisses of air. The man seems to sigh and steps out from under the awning of screens, absently reaching up to touch the sides of his helmet. The helmet vanishes with faint wisps of light. Silver hair spills down his back, and he rubs the back of his neck for a moment, the lights in his suit going dark.

"Good work, Viktor," says a deep voice from across the room.

Viktor Nikiforov, Prince of the Celestial Body and High Interfacer of the Starship Eternità, smiles at his instructor and longtime family friend, Yakov Feltsman. As he follows Yakov out of the room, another man in a similar suit steps in to take his place.

Yakov leads him to the decontainment chamber, where Viktor stands silently as machines and lights strip him of his suit, storing it within the ship's data field for next time. Before the machine drops into its idle state, it stings his spine with a cocktail of drugs that Viktor could name in his sleep if he cared about it. Almost immediately, Viktor's brain slows down from its heightened state, and he begins to remember himself.

Viktor dresses slowly in his normal clothes, heavily accented and decorated with gleaming gold, the violet undertones of his black shirt matching the lights that lit up his suit earlier. 

"You have three days until your next Interface. Be sure to rest," Yakov adds sarcastically, which Viktor also ignores. He gives Yakov a wave and heads off to his suite, barely noticing the people who step aside to bow or nod their heads. His station affords respect, but half of the ship has worked alongside him for four years now. Viktor sees little need to stand on ceremony when work must be done.

He drifts into his rooms, his feet leading him to the wide, expansive window that looks outside. The light shields were left open this morning, so Viktor is treated to the beautiful sight of their current system's brilliant blue star. He smiles a little, liking the color.

His thoughts return to him slowly, but Viktor is used to it by now. Interfacing for long periods at a time can cause slow insanity and numbing of the senses if one is not careful. Viktor is very, very careful, though, never pushing himself too far. He has high goals in mind for his work, and he refuses to lose himself in Interfacing for too long. Some throw themselves fully into it, never stopping to take care of their minds and bodies, but Viktor is unlike those people.

Still, he appreciates his work. Having his brain hooked up to a starship and directly interacting with the _kurion_ energy that makes up the majority of communiations between stars... there is nothing else like it.

Far beyond the blue star outside his window, the universe twinkles in the distance, expansive and beautiful. Every one of those stars has a hidden message that Viktor hopes to decode, with enough time and energy. He only needs to be patient. Then he will understand.

_I'm coming._

Viktor blinks a little, vaguely surprised. Did he think that? Perhaps some small piece of data from the stars beyond his window has snuck through the shields. It has happened before; information can always pass through to someone who has been Interfacing for a long period of time, whether or not they are hooked up to the ship. Viktor will remain susceptible to star data for another two hours or so, which is why he has been left alone.

 _I'm coming..._ Viktor smiles and wonders who it might be. He might even like them.


	3. galaxies / finding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 3: _galaxies - communities of stars, drifting through the sky together. perhaps it is humbling to be part of something larger. perhaps it is lonely._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poetry featured in this chapter, marked with *, is by e e cummings, from _[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/49493/i-carry-your-heart-with-mei-carry-it-in)_.

The first time Yuuri Interfaces, he is fourteen and alone, and he is sick for days afterwards.

The ship that accepted his apprenticeship, the _Obelisk_ , is a second-class starship that runs data transfers between three prime systems and their homeworld, Priis, and has done so for half a century. They are due to be decommissioned but are willing to take Yuuri on if he proves useful. Yuuri is told that it will be easy, that they have run the star tracks hundreds of times now, and that the system will work with him -- they make it sound wonderful.

They were right -- and wrong.

Interfacing _is_ wonderful. Yuuri spends hours before his first Interface nervously pacing his small room, wondering how it will feel, if he will hear any messages from beyond their target system, if he will feel what Viktor feels. Even as he is suited up and injected with all sorts of drugs that keep him from dying during the Interface, Yuuri worries, both afraid and excited. He has been training for months for this moment.

Then they connect him to the Interface, and Yuuri's world explodes.

Starlight everywhere, every ion full of another thousand words, every ray pouring books of information in a waterfall of knowledge, crashing through his brain with the speed of light. He can feel them, the stars and their ancient knowledge, the worlds they have created and destroyed, the creatures they have nursed from infancy to death, the fury and love and bliss that blazes through them with every atomic supernova, the balance of life and death --

\-- and far away, he sees a boy with blue eyes, blazing and bright and beautiful, his voice echoing across the universe to Yuuri.

_I'm going to the stars. Will you come with me?_

Yuuri is Interfaced for fourteen minutes. When they disconnected him, he falls to his knees and coughs out blood.

"Too weak," someone mutters, and then Yuuri is bustled off to a room of white machines and somber eyes, unable to think, only able to feel the motion of the universe spinning through him. He spends two weeks in intensive care, all of his senses focused on that voice calling to him.

_Viktor._

Despite deep misgivings, Yuuri convinces them to let him try again. They agree one more time, because Interfacers are hard to find, and Yuuri has already signed away his soul.

During his second Interface, Yuuri stays connected for fourteen hours. He doesn't throw up afterwards -- at least, where they can see.

_Obelisk_ tells him that the data streams are perfect, and that he can stay for one year until they decommission. Then he may sign on with their new ship, or transfer his contract somewhere else.

So Yuuri stays, Interfacing for fifteen hours every three days and learning to read the messages in the stars. His brain merely translates the data to a computer, where someone else will pick through the bits of information to find the truth, but Yuuri still understands little things. He sees the history of the starlight that reaches for Priis and its people, hears the sigh of an ancient as it winds down toward the end of its life.

Stars are alive, too, and they remember just as people do.

_Obelisk_ drops him off at a spaceport a year later, and Yuuri dutifully signs on with _Massimo_ , another second-class starship but one that is much smaller in size. Captain Celestino, who owns his contract, is tall and cheerful with long, wavy hair that reminds Yuuri of Viktor, and he relaxes as soon as Celestino grasps his hand. A dark-skinned boy stands behind him and beams at Yuuri, waving excitedly.

"You'll be working in single-triple shifts. Twenty hours Interfaced, then sixty hours downtime. I've got three other Interfacers who will work beside you. You have your own cabin, but meals are communal, and I've got a handy team of doctors who will oversee your health and training. Twice a month we have potluck dinners, and whenever we hit spaceports, we go out drinking together. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Yuuri says. The pace will be harder than _Obelisk_ offered him. _Massimo_ is destined for exploratory missions, following up on systems that have been left relatively unexplored. Some of those systems have only ever been touched once, by _Eternità._

Viktor's ship.

Yuuri relishes the opportunity to push himself further, to continue reaching for Viktor. Somewhere in the universe, Viktor has left his mark on the stars, and Yuuri hopes to find every one of them, to meet him someday.

He will leave his own marks for Viktor to find.

~*~

It only takes Yuuri half a year before he finds one of Viktor's messages.

_i fear_  
_no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want_  
_no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)_  
_and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant_  
_and whatever a sun will always sing is you_ * 

Yuuri doesn't understand at first. Then hours later, after he has woken from his long sleep, he thinks about it and pulls up a database of poetry. An old world poet wrote those lines long ago, but the poem is only part of a whole, and Yuuri understands then.

The next time he Interfaces, he leaves a message alongside it, for the next person to find and know.

_here is the deepest secret nobody knows_  
_(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud_  
_and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows_  
_higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)_  
_and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart_ * 

An old world poet must have seen this sort of future, where Yuuri would be combing through a million words to understand a single sentence, not even written in language as the human brain can comprehend, but in moments that the universe remembers and holds. He wonders if Viktor feels the same as him, that the stars are more than just pretty objects in the sky, that Interfacing is more than simple datamining. Surely Viktor knows as well, if he can leave poetry in a star.

~*~

Viktor stands on the edge of a balcony, holding a glass limply in his hand as he gazes up at the stars. Light spills out from the ballroom behind him, and to his irritation, he wishes he could escape into the gardens below. His guards will drag him back soon enough if he does, so Viktor doesn't bother yet.

Watching the stars gives him peace. He still feels connected to them; Interfacing for long periods of time can leave that impression, and whether or not it is real, Viktor holds onto it, seeking that peaceful feeling of drifting amongst memories. He likes the idea that no matter what planet he steps onto or how far his ship drifts, he can reach out with his heart and find the stars anywhere.

As he swirls golden wine around in his glass, Viktor hears it then, a soft message from beyond.

_i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) *_

Somebody found his tribute in the Sonnet system; he almost doesn't believe it for a moment. He cannot deny the feeling, though. He wonders who found it, and how long it took for them to understand the source. Few people pay attention to the old world any longer, even the parts of it that should be remembered forever.

Viktor smiles slowly, lifting his glass up to the stars. "Cheers, _solnyshko,_ " he murmurs, before drinking deeply. Soon he will go home, and perhaps he will find this lost soul who searches for him in the stars.


	4. the empty spaces-in-between / meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 4: _galaxies - communities of stars, drifting through the sky together. perhaps it is humbling to be part of something larger. perhaps it is lonely._

Years drift by, as Yuuri loses himself in the stars.

Each moment of his life feels real to him, as much as it feels like a passing cloud. Interfacing is his entire existence now, and Yuuri explores the datastreams with ease. He has never felt more at home than when he is Interfaced and deep in the soul of a star, teasing out the bits of history and memory that lay hidden within its bright depths.

Yet when Yuuri returns to himself, he feels as if something is wrong with him. He feels... broken, unmade, shattered. He hides it for a year, then has a breakdown in front of Celestino and Phichit, who promptly toss him into therapy with Doctor Minako Okugawa. She eases him through his worries, then diagnoses him with an anxiety disorder.

"The cocktail they give you after Interfacing should handle the physical side effects. As for the mental, I would like to meet with you once a week to talk."

"Talk," Yuuri repeats blankly, staring down at his hands.

"Just to talk, Yuuri. This is fairly standard for Interfacers. They may experience depression and other mental illnesses that arise out of feeling disconnected from the stars. It's perfectly normal. An hour every week."

"Alright," Yuuri says, because if he doesn't agree, then he can't keep Interfacing. All he wants is to stay in the stars.

He goes to his therapy and tries not to talk, but Minako pries his loneliness out of him anyway. She listens to his desire to meet Viktor, to his fascination with the memories within stars, to his childhood dreams of seeing the entire universe. She never takes notes. Sometimes, she pours them both a drink and doesn't force him to talk, instead letting him map out star systems with markers and paper.

Old tools, but ones people still use. Minako lets Yuuri keep the drawings, and he pins them on his walls, staring at the stars he has visited and has left poetry inside. He wants Viktor to hear his voice someday, for his soul to reverberate through Viktor and overwhelm him, just as Viktor has always done for him.

~*~

The day Yuuri turns eighteen, he hears Viktor reaching out to him for the first time.

He is deep in the Rens system, a triad of stars that nobody goes near because they burn too brightly for normal Interfacing, locked in a session that has gone on too long and might end up killing him. One of their Interfacers quit, and Phichit is on bedrest after getting sick from his last Interface, so nobody can replace Yuuri when his session ends. Instead of stepping down like a sane person would, Yuuri keeps going.

Yuuri wants to believe that he can handle the pressure, standing alone in the great console room with every light on his body flashing too fast for the human mind to comprehend. He thinks he can do it. He has to, because he has to go to the next system, to the next star -- he has to reach Viktor.

He doesn't hear the beeping outside his helmet, nor the banging on the door. He set it to lock once he noticed that Celestino hadn't woken yet and that nobody had come to get him out, ten minutes into his twenty-first hour. The override takes sixteen hours, because Phichit is their best hacker and is still asleep, and nobody else knows how to break through Yuuri's shields.

He buries himself within the stars, searching ever deeper in the bright light that is indistinguishable from darkness. There is a puzzle here that needs to be solved, that Yuuri can see the pieces of; he can understand it if he looks a little further, listening harder than he has ever reached before.

Then he sees it: the ghost of a fourth, hidden amongst the three. Another star, burned and destroyed, but kept secret by the three who loved it long ago.

Yuuri breathes as the new information sorts itself into the console. The discovery could put _Massimo_ on the news. Nobody has discovered this about the system --

_Solnyshko._

Yuuri almost doesn't hear the old word, until it begins to repeat, over and over and over until the voice drowns out the memories and ghosts of giants that lost their sister. Then it is all he can hear, and he recognizes the voice.

_Solnyshko, you have gone too deep. Come back. Come back before it is too late._

"Viktor," Yuuri whispers, then closes his eyes. He has done enough. Ever so slowly, his fingers trembling all the while, he lifts his hand outside of the Interface, until his thumb can touch a button on the console, inches from his hand. When he presses it, the Interface shuts down, and Yuuri finds he can think again.

When everything disengages and the lights fade away, Yuuri falls forward, a smile on his face as the door breaks open and his crew swarms the room. He doesn't feel it when they move him to a stretcher, nor when they wipe blood from his face. He only hears Viktor, speaking to him from far, far away, from the edges of the blackness that clings to his vision.

_You shouldn't have gone that far. Even I felt it from here. What were you thinking?_

_it's you... it's really you._

_Me? You know me?_

_i know you. i've been waiting to meet you._

_I've heard you before. Who are you? Tell me._

_yuuri. i'm yuuri. and you're viktor._

_What?_

Then Yuuri knows no more.

He drifts, lost in the darkness. There are no stars here, only the quiet dread of space, but Yuuri feels nothing of it. He only feels peace, wrapped in his small body with no one to push him, no data streaming through his brain and blood, nothing to take him away.

Viktor spoke to him. Viktor spoke to him, and Yuuri spoke back. Whatever happens, however Celestino decides to punish him, nothing else matters.

He spoke with Viktor.

~*~

Viktor stands at his window, his tablet clutched tightly in one hand. His jaw is clenched with worry, and he is grateful that he is alone. He does not wish for anybody to see his display of emotion; he would rather remain the Ice Prince that they know and love, than let them know his anxiety.

His tablet beeps once, and Viktor quickly pulls it up and opens the article that Mila sent to him. Inside he finds the information he desires.

The ship that broke through the Rens system and discovered the remnants of a fourth star -- the starship _Massimo_ , captained by Celestino Cialdini. The Interfacer who found the fourth star is none other than Yuuri Katsuki.

Viktor breathes out slowly. Despite his disbelief, a smile touches his lips.

He has found Yuuri.

"Call Yakov," Viktor says aloud, waiting for his communicator to connect, then speaks as soon as Yakov picks up. "Yakov, we are going to the Ides of Dalbur."

Yakov is quiet for a moment. When he speaks, Viktor can hear his suspicion. "You want to go look at the Rens system, don't you?"

"You could say that," Viktor replies, then ends the call, knowing Yakov will do as he wishes. He sets the tablet on a table beside him and looks back out the window, eyes glittering as he smiles.

_I'm coming, Yuuri._


	5. supernova / wanting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 5: _supernovae - oh, my dear, you know how to go out with a bang, don’t you? i promise you, your swan song will be seen across the ages._

In the expanse of darkness where dreams begin and lives fade to nothing, Yuuri waits.

It was inevitable, really. Yuuri has loved the stars since he was a boy, and he _understands_. He feels more comfortable in the link between memory and pieces of data than in his own skin. He can be himself here, without the worries of a normal life; he can go anywhere here, be himself without falling victim to his own brain. He is free, here.

Viktor is in the stars, and Yuuri feels more connected to him than ever, even far away. He knows Viktor is coming closer, that he will soon meet him, and Yuuri looks forward to seeing his smile in person.

He hopes Viktor will understand.

His attachment to his body is nearly gone. Interfacing for such a long period of time in such an intense environment has all but destroyed his tenuous link with himself, and Yuuri knows it. Everybody understands the dangers of Interfacing, of losing oneself to insanity, or worse -- becoming memory itself, so deeply entwined with the stars that one can never quite return to oneself.

His soul is memory now, and Yuuri wants someone to remember him.

He opens his eyes.

~*~

"All stand for His Excellency Prince Viktor Nikiforov, High Interfacer of the Starship Eternità, Knight of the Most Noble and Ancient Order of Rossiyskaya, Beloved Heir of the Supreme Light, Lord of..."

Viktor tunes out his long title, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. One hundred twelve words is too long for a title, and Viktor would rather go without it. He could have met Yuuri by now, had they simple introduced him as Viktor. It isn't as if the people he is meeting don't know him.

He has Yuuri's profile saved on his tablet; he has never closed the window. He knows Yuuri's birthday, his family, his Interface statistics, and the number of times he has been caught by Celestino Cialdini buying yuzu cookies. There is little about Yuuri's life that has not been saved into a data file for Viktor to review.

Yet that means little, since Viktor doesn't know _Yuuri._ He has never spoken with Yuuri outside of his soul. He has never held Yuuri's hand, or listened to his heartbeat, or called his name. He has never seen Yuuri's smile.

The person who has been reaching out to him for years is finally within his reach... and from what he can see, the elusive Interfacer is nowhere to be seen. The only two people waiting in the parlor in front of him are Doctor Minako Okugawa and Captain Celestino Cialdini.

Viktor narrows his eyes slightly, gratified to see both of them flinch.

"Where is Yuuri?"

Captain Cialdini and Doctor Okugawa exchange a glance, before Doctor Okugawa steps forward. She has a dancer's body and a no-nonsense frown, but Viktor holds her stare evenly. "Interfacer Katsuki is in a coma at this time and is unable to meet with you, Your Excellency. We sent word of this two hours ago."

Viktor doesn't frown, but he thinks about it. Yuuri in a coma? After that level of Interfacing, he is not surprised, but... "I was not informed. Thank you for telling me. I would still like to visit him."

"Of course, Your Excellency. He is in the healing ward of the _Massimo_ ," Captain Cialdini says, bowing low. Doctor Okugawa gives Viktor another narrow stare before she leads the way, out of the spaceport's embassy and to the piers.

The starship _Massimo_ is a small vessel, sleek and beautiful, with room for twenty-seven crew members. Stepping onto the ship, Viktor can see that the crew is as close-knit as a proper family, with the central screens of the entryway playing images of the crew alongside personalized announcements. He notices a picture of Yuuri as he walks past one screen, and he pauses to look at it, seeing the faraway longing hidden beneath a small smile.

Viktor swallows in anticipation. Even unconscious, soon he will meet Yuuri -- and perhaps he will be able to communicate with him regardless. Interfacers never quite lose their link to the stars, after all.

Halfway down the hall, a bracelet on Doctor Okugawa's arm beeps. She looks at it and goes pale, then starts running toward a wide set of doors. Viktor doesn't hesitate to follow.

When the doors slide open, they find the healer's ward in disarray. An old man is kneeling on the ground, hand pressed to a bruise forming on his temple. All of the beds are empty, even the one with blankets in disarray. Glass lays shattered on the floor beside the bed, half-submerged in a puddle of grey liquid.

"What has happened?" Doctor Okugawa demands, as Viktor strides past her.

"He went crazy all of a sudden! Hit me with a tray and ran," the man babbles, then gasps as Viktor grabs him by the collar and picks him up off the floor, eyes narrowing. "Prince Viktor?!"

"Why were you trying to give him that drug?" Viktor asks in a low voice, pointing at the gray substance on the floor. "That substance is restricted."

The old man doesn't meet his eyes, looking around for some way to escape. "I --"

"That man isn't one of my crew members," Captain Cialdini says suddenly, his voice wooden with shock. Viktor drops the man in dismay, not moving as he makes a run for the door, only to be apprehended by the host of guards that follow Viktor everywhere.

"Question him," Viktor orders, turning around again. "Captain Cialdini, where is Yuuri?"

Alarms blare suddenly, a blue light flashing overhead, and beside him, both Captain Cialdini and Doctor Okugawa gasp.

"Someone's accessed the Interface chambers," Captain Cialdini says in horror. Viktor catches sight of another door on the opposite end of the ward. He starts running, finding that the door leads to the long hallway that hosts the Interface console and the decontainment room. Blue light spills out across the hallway from the open doors of the console room.

Viktor reaches the room first.

A young man with dark hair stands in the center of the room, blue lights flashing on his body. He has already Interfaced, tiny pearls of light floating in the air around his body, separate from the light of technology. This light is ancient, burning with love and memory, drawn away from time itself to this decision.

Across the expanse of the universe, Yuuri looks up at Viktor and smiles. In an instant, Viktor understands what Yuuri means to do, and he cannot allow it -- he cannot lose him like this.

_hello, viktor. you're really here._

_Yuuri, no, don't do this!_

_it's inevitable. i'm so happy to have met you._

_Yuuri, please!_

_good-bye, viktor._

Every light on the console suddenly flares, brightening the entire room. The cords connected to Yuuri begin to hiss, and a loud hum fills the air, almost deafening in its intensity. In the moment between the blink of an eye and a supernova's explosion, Yuuri vanishes, becoming light and memory itself. The last of his light fades away as Viktor reaches him, hands grasping to hold onto him.

"Yuuri!"

_meet me on the other side._


	6. black holes ~ dwarf stars / waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 6: _black holes ~ dwarf stars - settle down into oblivion, whether it be a catastrophic fall or the long, slow way down. consume, or shine. either way, this is the end._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poetry featured in this chapter is written by yours truly.

Viktor keeps reaching, ignoring the faint, constant beeping at the edge of his awareness, stretching every one of his senses outward. He reaches to the far corners of the universe, to every star that he has touched, searching within and hoping that he will find him. He has to find him. Somewhere in one of those stars is a memory of a boy who followed him out here, and Viktor needs to bring him home.

_oceans of starlight sail into dawn_

There. In a star too far away for Viktor to identify, he senses it: words of poetry, echoing with the same longing that he felt in Yuuri's heart. Viktor reaches deeper, further, desperate to capture more of that emotion. Somewhere within that resonance is the dream of a memory -- of Yuuri.

_wisps o' willow colored blue  
transcend into love  
drowning in these lonely nights_

He hears a faint hiss, and an instant later his link with the star fades, as his Interface is forced to end. Viktor grits his teeth and reaches up to yank off his helmet even before the lights in his suit have faded, glaring at Yakov, who is scowling at him.

"Wasn't done," Viktor breathes, shoving the helmet into Yakov's hands as he stumbles off the dais. A crewmate catches him and puts his arm over their shoulder, all but carrying him to the door, as Viktor's head spins around the last line he heard, the last hint that Yuuri is waiting for him somewhere.

_i watched you sail away_

_Yuuri, I didn't mean to leave you. I will find you. Wait for me -- wait for me, darling._

They put him in quarantine for three days. Viktor fights it, just as much as he fights the fog of Interfacing. Yakov will not listen to a word he says, though, forcing him to remain in his room and setting up guards outside. Viktor ends up pacing by the windows, straining the faint link he still holds with the stars as he reaches again and again, but it is no use.

Yuuri is far away, now.

"You can't keep me here," Viktor growls to Yakov's picture on the video screen. Yakov gives him a dry look that, once upon a time, would have quelled Viktor's ire. It does little to soothe the rage churning his gut.

"You're going to destroy yourself, Vitya," Yakov says. "The universe needs you in one piece. You have duties, responsibilities --"

"I don't care! He's out there, and he's waiting for me! I'm going to find him!"

Yakov is silent for a moment, his gaze darkening slightly. "It has been four months, Vitya. The boy is gone. No Interfacer who ascends has ever returned... you know that. You need to let this go. Not even the latest research --"

Viktor shakes his head once, not caring if he interrupts his mentor. "I won't. I will never let him go, Yakov. You can punish me, you can keep me from the stars, you can cut out my heart and let it bleed on the floor for all I care -- but I will never give up on him."

Yakov sighs and doesn't respond, his gaze following his fingers across the screen. A moment later, an alert appears on Viktor's screen, and he grudgingly opens the article Yakov sent him.

"Alexander Smith, age fifty-nine. He has been sentenced to life in prison for administering the _solphagia_ drug to Interfacer Katsuki while unconscious, causing a near-total disconnect between Katsuki's body and mind. The resulting ascension was inevitable. It is sorrowful, but Katsuki's killer has faced justice, Vitya. You saw to that personally."

"He deserves more," Viktor mutters, looking out the window again. Far in the distance, stars glimmer at him teasingly, taunting him with knowledge that he cannot grasp. "He chose the wrong target for his hate."

"How one of the old conservers even got onto the ship..." Yakov sighs in disgust. Viktor can't help but agree. The group of people who wish to return to the old ways of warmongering and profiteering have long fought against both Interfacing and the royal line. Viktor wishes they would give up and accept the tentative peace that his parents established years ago. "Vitya, listen to me."

Viktor listens, his lips twitching downward.

"Katsuki is gone. Your parents have agreed to end your Interface contract. You will return home and --"

"If you send me back there, I will disappear," Viktor says evenly, his anger suddenly calming into a serene feeling that leaves him light on his feet. His parents and Yakov will never understand the connection he shares with Yuuri, the emotions he feels when he is lost in the memories of a man who reached for him. Yuuri never stopped looking up to him, following him out of a desire to know him, and Viktor can never forget that. They judge him for his attachment, but Viktor doesn't care what anybody thinks.

He just wants Yuuri back.

"No, Vitya, _listen_ ," Yakov insists, then grumbles when Viktor ignores him. "Fine then, read this instead."

Another message appears on Viktor's screen, and after a long moment, he opens the file, reading with disinterest. His distant thoughts soon focus on the article, his eyes slowly widening as he reads further. An experimental technology, one that works alongside Interfacing and reaches for the echo of a mind within a memory.

It is a chance. A way to find Yuuri again.

"Cancel my contract with _Eternità_ ," Viktor breathes, meeting Yakov's eyes finally. "I will join this team. Let Yuuri be the first to be remembered."

~*~

somewhere far away, yuuri transcends. he is love and memory, he is poetry in a single motion. he waits.

existence is but a dream, yet he holds knowledge in his soul, of a bright-eyed boy with a smile like a heart, whose hand reaches for him. always reaching, always wanting, always needing, always waiting. yuuri has no hands to touch nor eyes to see -- they, too, are dreams -- but he has his memory, and even deep within the star that protects him, he waits.

he waits, and he hopes.

_on the horizon, i see you_


	7. the unknown / loving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 7: _the unknown - what lies untouched, unknown, unseen?_

_I remember you._

_viktor?_

_I've come to take you home. Reach for me, darling. I know you can do it._

_if i can... you'll be there?_

_I am here. I'm waiting for you, Yuuri._

_...okay. i'm coming, viktor._

~*~

The room is still, a gleaming white dais centering the light. Glass fills the walls, revealing dozens of people watching, waiting, hoping. A single man with pale hair stands in the middle, his gaze focused inward as he waits.

Viktor remembers, and he waits.

The dais begins to hum, lights appearing in the space around Viktor. They coalesce slowly, then faster and faster until light fills the air in front of him. He holds his arms up, and within the safety of his embrace, a figure of another man appears, made true again by starlight. Viktor catches the man in his arms, dressed in the same clothes he disappeared in.

When starlight fades, the man opens his eyes, soft brown meeting blue.

"Viktor," Yuuri whispers, his lips twitching into a smile.

"Hello, Yuuri," Viktor says quietly. He has tears in his eyes. Yuuri thinks they look like starlight, for a moment, before he realizes they are water. He is real, and Viktor is holding him. He is no longer starlight.

He is alive.

"I'm... here?" 

"I found you in a star. A star nobody remembered... the first star we ever knew."

"The sun..." Yuuri closes his eyes, smiling. "It was warm there. I was sunlight in the trees. I was the dust scattered on the ground. I was a child's laughter..."

"You were memory, hidden inside a star. We forgot that star, just like we forgot our old world. You found it, Yuuri."

"A blue planet..."

"Yes." Viktor sighs, kneeling down on the dais and gently letting Yuuri rest on the cool steel, keeping him tucked against his side. He can't seem to stop touching Yuuri's face, brushing his messy hair from his eyes, touching his lips and eyes. Yuuri can't help but watch him, smiling each time Viktor's fingers pass across his cheek. "You found Earth, Yuuri. It's been forgotten for thousands of years... and somehow, you found it. We think that all the Interfacers who ascended are there... we hope to bring them all back. Just like I brought you back. I remembered you."

"Brought... me back?"

"You've been gone for two years," Viktor says gently. "Do you remember the last time you Interfaced?"

Yuuri turns his face toward Viktor, his cheek rubbing the sleek nylon of his suit. The weave of the fabric drags over his cheek, tauntingly good against skin newly reformed. He gasps a little, amazed that he can _feel_ again. "The three sisters... and a fourth?"

"Mm, yes. They announced your discovery on the news. You were in a coma for weeks, and on the same day I came to see you, a conserver broke into your ship and drugged you, intending to kill you. He saw it as a means to starting a war."

"He wanted fire," Yuuri murmurs, blinking slowly. He wants to keep looking at Viktor's face. "Fire and death... of old. The stars didn't want that. They took me away..."

"I know," Viktor says softly, holding Yuuri closer. "You woke up just in time and defended yourself, but then... then you went to Interface. You knew, didn't you? That you would have died had you stayed in your body."

"Mm. I wanted to know you." Yuuri smiles slowly as Viktor gazes at him, lifting his head and slowly sitting up in Viktor's arms. Viktor allows the movement, his hands gently holding Yuuri up, long fingers pressing into his arms. "I wanted to show you the stars... like you showed me."

"You did," Viktor whispers, eyes shining with the light of the star Yuuri left. Something warm hits Yuuri's cheek, clear and wet, and he blinks as Viktor bows his head. Lips brush his hair, hitching over a sob. Yuuri slowly smiles again, reaching up to cup Viktor's cheek as he cries. "Two years. Two years I've waited for you. Two years I've tried to remember you."

"You did," Yuuri whispers, closing his eyes and listening. Beyond Viktor's faint sobs, he can hear the stars beyond the cold glass and steel of the ship that cradles them. "I'm here now, Viktor."

"Yuuri..."

~*~

To their amazement, life goes on.

Yuuri remembers every moment afterward, from the long hours of doctors poking and prodding at him, to Yakov Feltsman himself interviewing him, to being introduced to the universe as the first Interfacer to return to life. He meets people like Christophe Giacometti, who monitors his health and smiles at him a lot. Celestino visits him, with Minako and Phichit, and they yell at him and hug him and cry into his shoulder. His family visits him, and they cry into his shoulder, too. Between Mari's sniffling and his mother's tears and his father's frown, Yuuri has never felt more loved.

Always, always, Viktor stays at his side. He should be doing other more important tasks -- as Yakov often shouts about, to Viktor's amusement -- but Viktor manages to complete them through tablets and reports and video calls. He focuses on Yuuri first, always there when Yuuri wakes up in the morning, staying all the way to when Yuuri falls asleep, and even through his hours unconscious.

Yuuri knows he is there, because even in his dreams, he can sense the cadence of Viktor's soul. Though he no longer Interfaces -- and never will again -- Yuuri still feels the stars and all that they have touched, Viktor most of all. He feels Viktor close by, even in his dreams. Viktor rarely lets Yuuri out of his sight.

Yuuri is fine with this.

Eventually Christophe announces that he has perfect health and lets him go home. For Yuuri, home is Viktor, who takes him to the capital and escorts him in front of a thousand cameras to a first-class starship, which carries them and all of Viktor's retinue to a remote planet, the third in an old system on the edge of the galaxy. There, Viktor and Yuuri board a small ship together, with nothing else but a few suitcases and supplies.

Viktor takes the helm and flies them down. Yuuri sits beside him in the co-pilot seat, gazing out the window in quiet awe.

"They wouldn't let me abdicate the throne," Viktor says quietly. "Someday, we'll have to go back."

In front of them, the blue planet below fills the screen, covered with wispy white clouds and green land masses. Perhaps Yuuri knows this place, much like anybody might know this place; he might have seen it before in a dream, or in a memory within a star. The universe is an old, old place, with secrets tucked into every corner of the darkness. Even this place, once lost and now found, has untold secrets.

Yuuri hopes to learn them, to know them and to share them. With Viktor.

"You'll be a good king," Yuuri says, reaching across the space between them to touch Viktor's hand. His skin is cold, lightly resting on the console, but he quickly warms beneath Yuuri's fingers. "You know what the stars want. What we all want."

Viktor turns his hand over to clasp Yuuri's fingers, their hands connecting them as deeply as the stars beyond their little blue planet. 

"It's strange. For two years it was hard to remember your face. Even the digital pictures we had of you, they looked strange, as if the pictures were faded. Yet I remembered your light, the smiles you would give me... I remembered the way your eyes shone when you looked at me. I remembered the way you laughed, the way you blushed at a compliment. I remembered the way you tasted when we kissed. Yet I only ever met you once."

Yuuri's face warms a little, as Viktor predicted. He tightens his grip on Viktor's hand.

"I think memory isn't just the past," Viktor murmurs. "If memory is forever... then memory is of time itself, of both the past and the future. I remembered you as we would be... so I found you."

Yuuri hums noncommittally. Viktor feels the stars as he does, so he must know already. Elsewhere in the universe, philosophers and scientists alike have already begun to argue about it, to seek the truth where answers lie. Yuuri is happy to leave them to it; he knows what he understands.

Viktor glances at him, his gaze warm with love. "I look forward to creating those memories with you, Yuuri."

Yuuri only smiles.

~*~

_Do you know, darling? The stars themselves brought me to you. They brought me to your side._

_i asked them to. i stayed, knowing you were coming._

_I remembered you. I searched for you and I knew you and I understood you. I loved you._

_i felt your love. knowing you, loving you, it kept me here. it kept the stars alive._

_Somehow it led us back here. Like the cry of a seagull, calling us to this place, the first home our people ever knew._

_viktor, you feel it too, don't you?_

_Yes. Is this the world you really want, Yuuri?_

_it's our world, viktor. let's go home._

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [unlearn the constellations](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14101458) by [thecryoftheseagulls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecryoftheseagulls/pseuds/thecryoftheseagulls)




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